Question 9: Food Rules

9. The final chapters of In Defense of Food offer a few food rules: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants” (146) whose seeming simplicity belies the complex reasoning behind them. Which of Pollan’s arguments do you find the most or least convincing, and which of his rules, if any, might you consider adopting?

18 thoughts on “Question 9: Food Rules”

  1. In my opinion, “eat food” serves as the most convincing argument. Since finishing the book I have stepped away from red vines and gummy bears as clearly my great grandmother would not see these items as edible. Prior to reading this book I failed to realize how little of my diet consisted of actual food. Eating real food will undoubtedly help people shed pounds and will lead to a lower chance of developing life-threatening diseases linked with the Western diet.

  2. I agree completely with Kevin. My family has done what Pollan suggested, buying half a cow and buying from farmers markets (we did this before I read the book), but I myself still didn’t eat the best. The rules I’m going to try to adopt are eating real food and eating less. True, this may be hard living in the dorm. I was really inspired by the French way of eating less but spending more time eating. Hopefully others feel the same.

  3. I think the rule that was most convincing to me was “Eat Food,” with the understanding that not everything in the grocery store qualifies as food. I appreciate the idea of not eating anything you great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food, because this pretty much eliminates everything packaged or processed in one fell swoop. I am thinking about adopting this rule because it’s a really simple way to think about what you are eating without reading ingredient labels on everything you buy. If it has an ingredient label, it probably doesn’t fit within the standards of the rule anyways.

  4. I find Pollan’s argument about not eating too much very convincing because ultimately it is moderation that saves someone’s health from being at risk. I find his argument convincing because he says that “food is also about pleasure, about community, about family and spirituality, about our relationship to the natural world, and about expressing our identity.” Pollan opens our eyes beyond the concept of “eating” or what you are eating. He suggests that eating too much spoils the pleasure and the benefits of a healthy eating which in my opinion is crucial. As a result, I have always felt this way about eating food. I think there is more to eating food than our animalistic nature allows us to see and that’s our interconnection with others so therefore I have already adopted this path.

  5. Arguments that have stuck with me and pop in my head as I am deciding what to buy at the market and what to eat:
    1. Don’t eat anything that your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. (148)
    2. Don’t eat anything incapable of rotting. (149)
    3. Get out of the supermarket whenever possible. (157)
    4. Eat mostly plants. (162)
    These arguments have stuck with me the most in the past month because they make sense and are not outlandish. When I read the statement, “Don’t eat anything that your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.” I had a light bulb moment and realized that this statement sets up the next three statements that have stuck with me. By only eating food that my great grandmother would recognize as food and not question what the item is, I am therefore avoiding foods that are incapable of rotting. Foods that are incapable of rotting are faux foods that have turned into a science experiment and are therefore unrecognizable. As a result of avoiding foods that are a) unrecognizable and b) capable of rotting, I inherently have to eat mostly plants.
    The argument that I remember, yet has been the most difficult for me to follow this past month, was getting out of the supermarket whenever possible. Living in Las Vegas, our farmer’s markets are more of a prepared food court than actual farmers’ bring produce and fresh meat and eggs to purchase. I am looking forward to spending time at Eugene’s Saturday Market and speaking with the local farmers and buying fresh produce. Hopefully once I am in Eugene for college, I will be able to get out of the supermarket more that I currently am in Las Vegas.

  6. Like what many people said here, “eat food” is really the rule that stuck with me. As I think back to various foods I’ve had over the summer, let alone my entire life, I realize that so much of it probably would not qualify as real food. What does that even say about my eating? I mean it is obviously not good. I think that even ignoring other food recommendations, this one rule can so easily improve someone’s diet. However, I can see how it is difficult to eat food, but at school I really hope to watch what food I eat; though let’s be honest, I’m going to be a college student, I can’t completely throw out all “fake” food.

  7. Pollan’s statement of “Mostly Plants” has resonated with me the most. Ever since I was born I have had significant food allergies that made eating a wide variety of foods quite difficult, with my list of allergens including:

    Nuts, dairy, wheat, soy, eggs, seafood and melons.

    Although I am now able to consume wheat and eggs, I still strive to eat a wide variety of vegetables and organics that can help me get the juice my body needs to stay healthy enough. After finishing this book, I also try my hardest to eat less and less processed foods (But, like Andie stated, trying to throw out all “fake” food may be next to impossible being a college student).

  8. For the past year, I have been trying not to eat processed food, so Pollan’s advice to eat “real food” didn’t take much to convince me. Since I read Pollan’s book, I have also been trying to eat more slowly and enjoy what I’m eating. To me, it seems like the hardest of his rules is to eat meals and not to snack. I have a pretty busy life, so a lot of times I find myself grabbing a snack as I head out the door, because I’m not sure if I’ll be back by the next meal time. I am not entirely convinced though, that having a snack between meals is bad. I understand that constant snacking isn’t good, but think that a small, healthy snack could be beneficial and keep you going between meals.

  9. One of Pollan’s rules is: Pay more. Eat less. I personally agree with it, but I think it may be a little too hard for some families to pay more for their food. For instance, many families right now are on food stamps which severely limits what they can get. I think it may be too difficult for families like that to pay more when they already need help just to get enough food. The rule just seems geared towards the middle and upper class and forgets about the lower class. It fails to address how poor people can afford to “pay more” and gives no solutions as to how they can. I think the rule moves in the right direction, but doesn’t cover all of it’s bases.

    Since reading this book, I have tried as hard as I can to eat slowly, not eat processed food, and eat at the dinner table. I am notorious for making some food and then bringing it away from the dinner table to my computer desk. I’ve been trying to end this. So far, the rules have helped me eat better and connect with the culture of eating. I am making more things from scratch and I am eating more meals with my parents.

  10. Pollan’s advice of ‘be the kind of person who takes supplements’ really stuck with me. It reinforces the idea that to live a healthy lifestyle, you have to do more than ingest nutrients X, Y, and Z. You have to be that kind of person who bikes to the grocery store, goes hiking for fun, shops at the farmers market, and gets along with their parents. Being healthy is about what sorts of things and activities you surround yourself with, not just what you use to fuel your body.

  11. The best piece of advice he gives, even though it isn’t actually one of his rules, is something that I adopted many years ago. In section one, he states that “what people don’t eat may matter as much as what they do” (67). I focus much more on what I’m not eating than what I am eating. Even though I violate many of Pollan’s rules, I’m still just as healthy as he is. If you want to eat in front of the TV, then do it. If you want to eat foods that make health claims, you should do that too. As long as you avoid candy, desserts, soft drinks, and fast food, you’ll be just fine. It is not necessary to follow his rules; people simply need to find a healthy diet that works for them. Eliminating junk food is a great way to start.

  12. As many people have reiterated, the rule that stands out the most is his section on “Eat Food.” In this section, he reviews the simplicity of this rule with just a few sub rules that guide an eater. But while this section may seem simple, our society has made it nearly impossible, filling supermarkets with rows and rows of what Pollan would define as “fake foods.” While I completely agree with his rule and understand the reasoning for it, American society has based its signature American foods off of processed and fake foods.
    A few months ago, I put the “Eat Food” rule to the test by partaking in a month-long “Paleo Cleanse.” Also known as the “Caveman Diet,” the Paleo Cleanse consisted of foods that only a caveman could eat: vegetables, lean meats, fruit, nuts and water. While this diet did make me feel significantly better in terms of my health, it was extremely difficult to follow when nearly all the food surrounding me in school, stores and restaurants could be considered fake.
    So while Pollan’s rule is 100% viable, the reasonableness of it becomes nearly impossible in American society.

  13. Michael Pollan makes many arguments throughout the book but his most compelling one is that the parts that compose a person’s diet are not as important diet as a whole. Diet not only means what someone eats but how they eat it, who they eat it with, and how it is produced. What was puzzling was how people knew how to eat right before guidelines like the food pyramid. After reading the book it became clear that people have known how to eat all along and that Western culture has led people away from this knowledge. In regards to this change in the eating habits of Western culture adopting Pollan’s rule to eat more like other cultures, following the examples of the Japanese or the French would be the most beneficial because their eating encompasses not only what foods to eat but how to eat them. Pollan points out that snacking is rare in French society and that the French take longer to eat their meals, two factors that have been linked to improved health. Without even changing the food eaten the following of that rule could already lead to health benefits. However, in the context of current Western food culture it is more realistic to view Pollan’s rules instead as guidelines, as things to steer one down the right course.

  14. Pollan’s rule to eat “mostly plants” stuck with me the most. I know that it’s hard to eat what should be the recommended serving of vegetables everyday and keeping this rule in mind can aid as a motivation to incorporate more vegetables into every meal. I typically stay away from eating to many processed foods or foods with ingredients that I can’t pronounce, so Pollan’s rule about avoiding food products containing ingredients that you can’t even pronounce resonated with me. One rule that stood out in particular was to “avoid food products that make health claims”. I have always noticed, for example, cereal boxes that claim to be “heart healthy” or have a “full serving of recommended fiber” or something along those lines, and it never occurred to me that maybe this overrepresentation of the products so called health benefits may really be just a way to mask the fact that these products have been processed and stripped of their nutrients several times. It’s true that foods that are actually good for you such as fruits and vegetables, never have signs next to them in grocery stores boasting health claims. Such foods don’t need to fake their nutritional value.

  15. In my opinion Pollan’s most convincing argument is “eat food”. This is the point that he really drives home the most, and the one which he has the most evidence behind. All of his main points throughout the book, such as the negative effect nutritionism has had on food, or that food needs to be considered as a whole, not as a combination of nutrients, backs up the “eat food” argument very well. He, however, does not put nearly as much effort into arguing the other two points “mostly plants” and “not too much”. I also feel that the other two points aren’t nearly as important as the first. For example, Pollan himself in the book admitted that a meat heavy diet could be healthy as long as it was a traditional diet. The “not too much” rule also has its flaws, as everybody needs a different amount of calories to be healthy. For example, an athlete with a high metabolism would need to eat quite a bit more than the average person to stay healthy.

  16. I was most convinced by Pollan’s “Not Too Much” argument. He seems to confront the psychological aspects of eating with “don’t eat alone” and “sit at a table.” I think these points are great and truly contribute to the amount of food we eat (especially by cutting down on snacking) and allows us to put thought into what it is we eat. I also agreed with his point of “consulting your gut.” I find it to be true in my experience that most people don’t necessarily stop eating when they’re full. The American psyche. To be conscious of the moment I become full has been one of the changes to my eating habits since reading the book. The “Eat Food” argument had some good points as well. It should be clear what we are ingesting when we decide to buy and eat food, the best way being to keep it simple. Avoid the overly processed and complex and get back to the basics or cook it yourself. The “Eat Plants” rule seems simple enough but not everyone has access to wild grown or farmer’s market foods. Whether bought local or not, it would take considerable commitment to know which foods have been grown in “healthy” soil and the diet and conditions of the animal products we consume. I am more inclined to buy local small farm products when I can and otherwise stick to the purchase of simple foods at the market.

  17. Michael Pollan’s rule of eating “eat food” is the thing that most affected me and my views on my diet. The idea that my great grandmother wouldn’t recognize some of the things I am eating as food is slightly disturbing. In the past month or so after reading the book, I have found myself eating lot less processed foods and more vegetables and fruits.
    Another thing Pollan has convinced me to do is to eat slower and enjoy my food more. As a kid I would always have competitions with my peers on who can finish their food the fastest and I always prided myself in being a fast eater. I have now learned the consequences on eating food fast including the fact that you are more likely to eat more unnecessarily.

  18. As a vegetarian of six+ years, Pollan’s emphasis on the importance of vegetables and the unhealthy long-term effects of consuming large quantities of red meats resonated strongly with me. Being a vegetarian does not guarantee that one’s diet is healthy (we’re likely to overdo it on carbohydrates) but it does typically mean decreased chances of cardiovascular complications in the future. Pollan’s evidence supporting the long-term vegetable-rich diet is one that not only helped me feel more secure and defended in my dietary choices, but also more inspired to try incorporating even more of his “food rules” into my diet.

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